Sunday, September 23, 2007

Jesus and the Restoration of the Davidic Kingdom (3.2.2. Jesus' Baptism in Luke)

Luke’s description of Jesus’ baptism seems to imply that it represents his royal anointing. There Jesus is declared to be God’s Son in language evoking Psalm 2,[1] which was a royal enthronement psalm.[2] It is interesting to note that Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist, who Luke tells us was a Levite, the son of Zechariah, a priest (cf. Luke 1:5). This provides an interesting Davidic parallel for the baptism of Jesus: Solomon was likewise anointed by a Levite (1 Kgs 1:39).

In addition, immediately following his baptism, Luke gives the reader another important piece of information: "Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age" (Luke 3:23). Here we have another Davidic parallel. In 2 Samuel 5:4 we read:"David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years." Jesus begins his ministry at the same age David began his reign. Immediately after this Luke traces Jesus’ genealogy back to Adam through David (Luke 3:23).

2 comments:

Another way to look at it also, is Jesus was baptized at the age of 30, the same age that the Levites began the priesthood. Also, God's voice sending blessing upon Christ is like the patriarchs blessing the firstborn, bestowing the primogeniture priesthood. This corresponds with Paul's argument in Hebrews when he quotes psalm 2 and psalm 110---- Son and Priesthood. Melchizedek/Shem was a priest-king as David also was and Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the Priest-King!